Photo:
J R Fairman - The New Arrival, 22nd August 1978.

On 19th August we welcomed into the up yard an addition to our motive power strength, No. T1, a companion for our other Hibberd, Tarmac. Perhaps we will choose another name than this title for our new diesel so kindly donated to the Society by Comp Air Broomwade Ltd., but I suspect many will remember the Desborough Works at High Wycombe, where our locomotive worked until rail traffic ceased in 1976, as the headquarters of Broom & Wade Ltd.

T1 is a very interesting historic acquisition, 43 years old and quite a veteran for a diesel! She was built in 1937 by F C Hibberd & Co., Park Royal, London, maker's No. 2102, for Shell Mex and B.P. Ltd., and was sent to work at the oil storage depot on the east side of Southampton Water at Hamble where the duties included the mile long branch connecting with the Southern Railway's Southampton and Portsmouth line near Netley. (I recall that it was the steam 0-6-0ST, Avonside 1820/1919, which usually worked the tank cars across the airfield to and from the depot - Ed.)

In September 1950, after 13 years in Hampshire, FH 2102 was transferred to the Shell Mex Purfleet, Essex, depot but this was only a brief sojourn for, in February 1952, there was another move, this time to the Trafford Park depot in Lancashire. Finally, in 1957, our loco, carrying the Shell Mex No. 13, was purchased by Broom & Wade and returned south to High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire.

Perhaps the most interesting feature of T1 is that it is of the Howard type with the locomotive frames built up of rolled steel channels and similar standard sections to the design originally developed by J & F Howard Ltd., of Bedford. There are two preserved examples of Howard's locomotives which have this form of framing. One is named Hotto and was built in 1930. It can be seen at the Lytham Motive Power Museum, Lancs., and the other is the 1926 vintage, Britannia, on the Bluebell Railway. James and Frederick Howard Ltd., were agricultural engineers and they went out of business in 1931. At that time they were offering three sizes of standard gauge locomotive and used a six cylinder petrol engine for the largest, a 12 ton unit. The other sizes were 7 tons and 10 tons.

Photo:
J R Fairman - Typical Howard features on the new Hibberd

Our Hibberd has a six cylinder Paxman Ricardo diesel engine driving a three speed gearbox through a dry friction clutch. Although, when we received T1 it had a seized engine, through more than two years of disuse, the CAV fuel pump and the injectors have been inspected and found to be in very good order. Whether the engine is the original power unit is not yet known but the likelihood is that it entered traffic with Shell with a diesel engine rather than a petrol engine.

The external appearance of 2102 is a mixture of pure Hibberd, especially the cab because Howards did not usually supply locomotives with enclosed cabs. The design of the radiator, fore and aft ballast weights, and the location of the sandboxes on the front running plate are Howard features. Similarly, the roller chain power transmission from the gearbox to the front axle and the roller chain between sprockets on the front and rear axles are identical with earlier Howard products. Another Howard feature is the hand crank starting facility from a point on the left hand side just in front of the leading axle. To start with the hand crank needs two people, one to turn the handle and another to operate the engine decompression lever.

In the cab is a Wisconsin air cooled petrol donkey engine driving a small air compressor for charging the air start bottles, also in the cab. It is believed this method of starting was installed by Broom & Wade and replaced an electric system.

During its career in oil depots our locomotive was fitted with flame proof lighting for cab and headlamps but there are no signs of a flametrap on the exhaust or crankcase explosion doors. The oval buffer faces have been covered with rubber belting, (noise suppression at B & W's or safety at oil depots?), and on top of the engine compartment there is a bracket for a warning bell which we have been given by B & W from their overhead crane. There is no air operated horn or whistle. When our diesel experts have overhauled the engine and restored T1 to running order she will be a very useful addition to stock for shunting in the up yard and will be repainted in the blue Comp Air Broomwade livery in recognition of our appreciation of their generosity in giving Quainton such a valuable and interesting vehicle.

Notes:
The text in this Quainton Railway Society publication was written in 1978 and so does not reflect events in the 36+ years since publication. The text and photographs are repeated verbatim from the original publication, with only a few minor grammar changes but some clarifying notes are added if deemed necessary. The photos from the original publication are provided as scans in this internet version of this long out of print publication.

Reference:
The Broom and Wade - Quainton News No. 36 - Autumn 1978